Subscribe to this blog

Follow by Email

Search This Blog

At the age of 50, I semi-retired from traditional employment and transitioned to being a full-time artist. I have the pleasure of spending every day in Birdsong Studio doing what I love. This blog was started almost a decade ago as a public accountability mechanism for a weight loss intention. It has grown into a number of different directions over the years. I hope you enjoy it.

The best part of the day

You'd think that the highlight of my day might have been the moment when a painting that I had started at 9:45 am and finished at 1:00 pm helped raise $18,000 at the Alzheimer's Face-Off Luncheon at the Shaw Conference Centre in Edmonton.

I'll admit, that was a pretty amazing moment. In some ways, I still can't believe it. I stood up to applaud the buyer, Tony Deford of Deford Contracting in Edmonton. What a lovely guy. He was so excited about his purchase and thrilled to support the cause.

My early morning breakfast with my friend Graham might very well have been the apex of the day. We hadn't seen each other in a long time and I always enjoy our visits. Next week, it will be one year since I landed at his place in Edmonton after evacuating Fort McMurray. He helped me get back in balance after a terrifying ordeal.

The wonderful visit I had with Jennifer in the afternoon could easily have been the high moment of the day. We hadn't seen each other for over 20 years. Back in the 90s, a small group of us in Stettler had some amazing times together and were very close.

Her purchase of my recent portrait of Walt Disney offered us the perfect excuse to reconnect. It will be a focal point in her office at The City of Spruce Grove.

These three moments were pretty special. On a normal day, any of them would rank right up there as untouchable in terms of creating a lasting memory. It was a day, as far from normal as you will find.

The singular highlight of yesterday happened at the very end of the day, just minutes before going to bed. Ben arrived home from his opening night performance of Spoon River Anthology. The theatre show, and the talent show that happened at his high school earlier in the day, had gone so well that he was absolutely glowing. Seeing all those hours of rehearsal and practice come together and produce euphoric bliss in my son's heart: that was the high point of my amazing day.